August 16, 2014

Robin wants laughter in heaven. I don’t think he is too far off. I think there will be laughter in heaven; laughter and joy not from good jokes, but from an incredible, loving God whose plans for history and our lives are audaciously good.

September 19, 2012

If you only click one link today, make it this one. It is about how believers often don’t understand that suffering is from God. Be sure to watch the powerful Piper video at the end.

There is a brand new review of the book (Eyes Wide Open) we are reading in our men’s study. The book is so good that I’d recommend it even to those who aren’t part of our study. Here are the opening words of the review:

Eyes Wide Open not only opened my eyes. It also opened my mind and my heart. So enjoyably, that I’ve now read it three times in just over a month.

Speaking of books, The Hour That Changes the World: A Practical Plan for Personal Prayer is free today for Nook and Kindle.

How do you think of Sunday morning worship? I hope for you it is the best hour or so of the week. Here is a perspective I hadn’t thought of before: worship as play. Good thoughts.

Finally, Joe Thorn offers direction about how to pray for your pastor. Personally, I covet your prayers for me. The work God has called me to is way beyond me. I need help not only for ministry but for my life.

May 16, 2012

Here’s what Darwin wrote near the end of his life:

Up to the age of 30 or beyond it, poetry of many kinds . . . gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in Shakespeare. . . . Formerly pictures gave me considerable, and music very great, delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry: I have tried to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost any taste for pictures or music. . . . I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it formerly did. . . . My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding out general laws out of large collections of facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain alone, on which the higher tastes depend, I cannot conceive. . . . The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.

How tragic it is that there is often this “loss of happiness.” Why go on living if there is no delight? This is the very issue that Christianity is ultimately about. Instead of losing the capacity for joy, it is reclaimed and enhanced. This is because our God gets bigger and bigger. He doesn’t actually grow but rather our understanding and awareness of whom he is grows. Here’s how Lewis talked about it in Prince Caspian. Aslan is speaking with Aslan:

“Welcome, child,” he said. “Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.” “That is because you are older, little one,” answered he. “Not because you are?” [Lucy asked.] “I am not,” he said. “But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

The longer we live the more we realize that Jesus is bigger than we ever could imagine. This is good news for the thirsty soul.

April 14, 2012

First, here is a post that I understand went viral last week. Thus you might have already read it. It’s called, “Your Children Want YOU!” Even though it is secular it has good things to say.

This piece is a good reminder for parents and churches. It is about sex offenders. Here is a quote:

I considered church people easy to fool . . . they have a trust that comes from being Christians. They tend to be better folks all around and seem to want to believe in the good that exists in people. I think they want to believe in people. And because of that, you can easily convince, with or without convincing words.

Finally, here is a short piece about C.S. Lewis and his ability to risk delight, something children are willing to do. I believe that there is some worthwhile encouragement here.